


Ending Scene | Tsumugi Tsukioka x Reader

by sevulent



Category: A3! (Anime), A3! (Video Game)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:14:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28666788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevulent/pseuds/sevulent
Summary: "I saw him again...Underneath the shining spotlight behind the open curtains of the theater, he stood in the center, where his voice spoke loud and clear.He was no longer the man I once knew. He had grown into a different person. A person he never would have been had he stayed with me."
Relationships: Tsukioka Tsumugi/Reader, a3/reader
Kudos: 19





	Ending Scene | Tsumugi Tsukioka x Reader

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfiction is based on a song called Ending Scene by IU

> _**"Hello, it's been a while,** _   
>  _**There's no question mark in your voice, it's so you...** _   
>  _**Like it's a rule,** _   
>  _**Your spot is always by the door..."** _

You saw him again. 

On the poster of a play held by a theater troupe called the Mankai Company was the face of the man you had once loved. Tsumugi, in all his lovely glory, donned the costume of an angel that matched his personality. 

You suddenly remembered the night when you both decided to end things. You two had been together for two years. In a busy cafe in Tokyo, a waitress had approached you and asked if a nice gentleman could join you at your table for two, given that the cafe was full and there were no other empty seats aside from the one across from you, out of the kindness of your heart, you agreed.

The blue-haired man looked at you with a shy smile as he profusely apologized for his sudden arrival. But you told him it was no problem. Noticing the awkwardness written on your face, he introduced himself as Tsumugi and began to ask about the novel you were reading. It sparked a connection between the both of you that didn't end after you parted ways in front of that cafe.

"Can I... meet you here again tomorrow?" He asked with the sweetest voice you've ever heard from a male. With an enthusiastic nod, you agreed.

"I'll be available after 3 PM," You said, "Um, is that alright?"

"Of course! I'll see you tomorrow."

The memory had gone by so quickly, it felt like a fleeting dream. Like he had only existed in the fragile images of your mind, only to drift away the moment the sun rose in the sky, leaving you in the wake of emptiness and longing when you opened your eyes.

A small, broken smile leaves your lips. He had done it, hadn't he? You remembered him speaking about theater so religiously like it had been injected in his genes the moment he was born. Sure, teaching was something he didn't mind doing, but you could tell in those soft cobalt eyes of his that theater would always remain in his heart.   
  
  
  
  


> _**"Make sure you eat well, because it'll all pass,** _   
>  _**You'll be able to sleep well like you did before...** _   
>  _**I really mean it from the bottom of my heart,** _   
>  _**You deserve to be happy..."** _

He saw you again.

Stopping in front of the window of a bookstore, Tsumugi froze in his tracks when he noticed the soft shades of [hair color] framing delicate [eye color] eyes that looked too familiar to ignore.

Behind rose-rimmed glasses, your eyes scanned each page of the novel in your hand, your elegant fingers flipping through the pages with a gentle grace that he couldn't forget. A memory flashed in his mind. He remembered seeing you read the same way in the cafe he met you, treating books like they had lives, eyes wide with wonder and mystery.

Behind your favorite rose-colored glasses, you flipped through the pages of a book, written all in English, he presumed, he couldn't read it very well, but he knew you could, with intense concentration.

It felt like nothing much had changed since a year ago.

"Hey, Tsumugi, you alright?" Banri waved his hand in front of the adult's face, "You there, man?"

He snapped out of his trance, looking away from you before turning to the teenager next to him, "Oh! I'm sorry... were you saying something?"

"You suddenly stopped, are you alright?" Banri asked as he turned to follow where Tsumugi had been looking. Through the window of the old bookstore, there was no one. He raised a brow.

"Do you wanna go in?"

"Um," Tsumugi looked through the window again. You were gone. "No... Sorry. I just suddenly remembered something."

"You wanna go home? You don't seem okay."

Tsumugi chuckled and shook his head. Banri liked to look tough on the outside, but he was truly caring, "It's alright. I was just quite disoriented. Anyway, you were saying..?"

He continued to listen to his cafe buddy talk about his recent experiences in college, not before taking one last glance at the bookstore.

Had it only been his imagination?

It had been a year since he saw you. A year since you spoke to him. He hadn't expected you to end things first when he was thinking about going back home to fulfill the dream he had chased after for so long.

You were so kind... So delicate, so... understanding. It felt so wrong to break your heart when you thought of nothing else but his happiness before yours.

How were you now? Were you doing well? Had you found someone else?

As much as Tsumugi wanted to move on, there were nights when he'd lie on his bed in the middle of the night, thinking of you. He still had a copy of the book you wrote, filled with stories of seasons, flowers, love, even a bit of melancholy.

He wondered if you were still writing.

If so, would he see himself in those stories of yours as the villain?

Would he be the subject of your melancholy written behind walls of poetic prose?

Did you still think of him enough to write about him?

An ache threatened to break his heart in two. He pushed those thoughts in the back of his mind as he entered the Mankai dorm once again, smiling at those who greeted him.   
  
  


> _**"As much as you were lonely,** _   
>  _**I really hope you meet someone** _   
>  _**Who will love you more than you love yourself..."** _

You saw him again.

On the street of Veludo way, next to a woman you did not know. 

Her beautiful chocolate locks flowed behind her like brown waterfalls. In the sunlight, her brown eyes almost appeared pink like cherry blossoms in spring. She had a vibrance to her that was impossible to look away from, an energy that no other person could replicate. She was shining. She was someone who matched Tsumugi's angelic personality, someone who enhanced it. Like a match made in heaven.

The thought broke your heart.

You watched him, in front of the bookstore you had exited from, across the street. The two of them seemed to have enjoyed the donuts that have been making their way through the media. You've yet to try them.

You've wished for his happiness, and even though he found it in the arms of another, you were ready to accept it the moment you made your choice.

But it was a lot harder than you expected.

Your eyes heated up, clouding your vision with tears that threatened to spill. Despite that, a small smile drew itself across your face when you saw him laugh with her. He looked so happy.

_They_ looked so happy.   
  
  
  


> _**"I'm sorry it wasn't me,** _   
>  _**It's not easy to give my heart to you..."** _

He saw you again.

As he walked with Izumi, Tsumugi spotted you across the street. You were clutching a newly bought book from the same bookstore he saw you at days before as you walked in the opposite direction. The donut he ate suddenly tasted sour on his tongue and he held back the urge to chase after you.

So it really was you he saw that day. You weren't a passing figment of his imagination.

What were you doing in town? Were you looking for him somehow? Was it for work? To visit family?

Although he couldn't see your face, he was almost certain it was you.

Because around your neck was a scarf that had the soft colors of winter, the one he had given you when you celebrated your birthday with him. You got cold easily when autumn came, so with that thought in mind, he entered a store that had been recommended to him by a co-worker and bought you that very scarf.

The memory was still fresh in his mind.

You were no longer in sight. So he pushed those thoughts back and turned his attention to the director once more. She was talking about the new spices she had recently acquired with Chikage yesterday and was hoping to use them for tonight's dinner.

Guess they were having curry again tonight.  
  
  
  


> _**"Please don't say that,** _   
>  _**You know that it hurts more to hear that..."** _

You saw him again.

On the stage of the Mankai's theater where crowds of people sat on their seats with anticipation, whispering among themselves, talked, laughed, and giggled.

You've heard stories about this theater and how they had risen from the ashes of former glory. You had asked for a ticket from one of your fellow writers in the publishing company, an eccentric named Homare Arisugawa, who happened to be in the play as well, and told you that there was an encore his troupe was performing.

Tsumugi was the lead, and he played the role like he owned it. There was a confidence in his eyes that you've never seen before like he had been torn from who he was and built anew. You wondered what he had gone through to be who he was now.

His voice resonated through the theater, loud and clear. He was different from the Tsumugi you had first met, who was soft and bashful.

You clutched the two flowers in your hands, a pink camellia and an azalea.   
  
  
  


> _**"You told me you'll love me,** _   
>  _**What is this?"** _

He saw you again.

You were in the front row of the theater, even in the darkness you seemed to glow.

He tried his best to stay in his act, to reveal nothing of how he felt at that moment, and stuck to his character. He knew that anything wrong would immediately lead to him being scolded by Tasuku, who by now would have spotted the shift in his eyes when he took another moment to glance at you.

When the show ended, while everyone was in the dressing room, he thought about you.

You had been too smart, too caring, too kind for your own good. Even though you had your life with him planned out, you put him first.

You had brought it up with him one night and told him that he wouldn't be happy if there was something in his heart he was holding back. You knew his mind drifted back to the stage and that he longed to feel the euphoria that only acting could bring him.

With that, you offered to break up with him, knowing that with that fire that had suddenly burned in his heart, the desire to return to the stage was stronger than his love for you, you gave him the chance to follow it.

"I know you will never be satisfied if you stayed here with me," You told him that night, "If you keep holding that in, you will never be truly happy with who you are now. I will only hold you back."

It was easy enough to know that it hurt you to let him go. Tsumugi knew that much from the way you held yourself in front of him. But he also knew that you were completely, utterly right.

"I'm..." He whispered, his heart pounding in his chest, seemingly hard enough to break, "I'm sorry..."

She smiled a painfully heartbreaking smile, "Don't be."

"You don't deserve this, [Name]."

"You deserve to be happy, Tsumugi."  
  
  
  


> **_"You will never know_ **   
>  **_What feelings you've caused me to feel..."_ **

The knock on the door had interrupted Tsumugi's train of thought. Before he could stand up from his desk, Tasuku had already opened the door.

Homare stood behind it with a smile, "Is Tsumugi there?"

"Right here," Tasuku said, stepping aside to let the poet in to talk to the blue-haired man.

"Ah, Tsumugi, there you are!"

He smiled up at his troupe mate, who looked to be in high spirits, "Good morning, is there anything I can help you with?"

"I was only here to give you this," He handed him a sea blue hardcover book covered with gentle flowers in pink and blue. On the front cover were the words _Like In Our Memory_ printed in a beautiful Libre Baskerville font.

His heart nearly stopped when he saw the author at the bottom of the cover.

_[Last name] [Name]._

"It's a book full of short stories written by a good friend of mine in the publishing company," Homare stated, noticing the astonished look on his troupe leader's face, "I thought you might like it."

Tasuku gazed at Tsumugi over Homare's shoulder and noticed the expression that followed. Mixed with sadness, regret, and a bit of nostalgia.

The two watched as Tsumugi opened the book, turning the first page.

_"To my dearest angel, Tsumugi... I hope you are happy, wherever you are now."_   
  
  
  


> **_"Will you please be honest with me?_ **   
>  **_You know I believe your every word._ **   
>  **_Like you said, one day..."_ **

It was dark in your bedroom. Your desk lamp was the only source of light you had and the moon wasn't out tonight. On nights like these, you wished it was, maybe then you wouldn't feel so lonely.

Your legs crossed on your seat, you began to type the first words of your draft. One that you only hoped would reach him, should he ever grab a hold of your book.

You hadn't been completely honest with him. Sure, you truly did want his happiness. But there had also been a part of you that wanted to keep him for yourself. From all your lonely years, relying on your stories for closure and solace, Tsumugi had been the one person in your life that made you feel like you had truly lived. He was the kind of man you'd only see in stories, the one who would make and break your heart.

Since the day you parted ways, in the cafe you first met, you had already started writing about him. From your encounters to the things you felt, everything had already been poetically written, weaved into a story you would someday show the world.

These stories made you who you are. Even though you didn't have many people in your life, save for your blue-haired angel, you relied on these stories to keep you safe, to help you grow.

Tonight, you were going to write the last short story in the book you've been planning for some time. You only hoped it would be enough now in this uneventful life of yours.   
  


_I saw him again..._

_Underneath the shining spotlight behind the open curtains of the theater, he stood in the center, where his voice spoke loud and clear._

_He was no longer the man I once knew. He had grown into a different person. A person he never would have been had he_ _stayed with me._   
  


The more you wrote, the more your heart seemed to break. It always felt this way when you were writing.

You ripped your heart out and turned them into words. Even though no one would understand them, it was your way of understanding yourself.

After every story, there was a sense of relief that would come after that. It was like coming to a conclusion in your life after an inner conflict that you had been so stuck up on.

But even though you write a million stories, you knew, deep within, that you wouldn't love anyone the same way you loved Tsumugi. 

You knew that for sure, even if he didn't feel the same way...  
  
  


> _**"Will I ever truly be...** _   
>  _**Loved by someone like me?** _

❖   
  
  
  


❖  
  
  
  


❖  
  
  
  


**_For the brokenhearted, an extra I wrote for you..._ **   
  
  
  
  


You didn't expect this many people to arrive at your book signing event. It almost made you anxious when you saw the number of people waiting to see you.

It felt exhilarating to hear the praises your book received, from teenagers to adults, they had all adored your stories.

"Thank you so much for your support!" You waved to the teenager who had shared with you her experiences while reading your book, and with the same eagerness, you signed her copy and wrote her name along with a small thank you note.

"Thank you for coming!" You didn't look up as the next one in line handed you their copy, as you signed it with your signature you asked them for their name.

"Tsumugi Tsukioka..."

You froze.

It was that gentle voice. The sweetest one you've ever heard.

You were almost afraid to look up. But as you did, you met those soft cobalt eyes you had been dreaming about since that _very day_...

"Good evening, [Name]."

He smiled at you like he had finally seen it all. A smile that was both grateful and melancholic. A smile that told you more stories than you could ever write.

A small tear slipped down your cheek as you gave him a smile, "Good evening... Tsumugi."

You finally saw him again.  
  
  
  
  
  


**[UNEDITED]**


End file.
